Jonathan Coulton & Heather Gold: ‘Flagpole Sitta’

Part of the Heather Gold Show at Plutopia 2008 SXSWi party in Austin. “Opting Out” was the theme. After this riff on the Harvey Danger classic, Sean Nelson — who wrote the song — explained why he opted out of rock n’ roll: “Flagpole Sitta took off exactly 10 years ago at SXSW and it was the worst time of my already miserable life.” He added that the one opt-out he regretted was turning down Paul Shaffer’s offer to back Harvey Danger with his full band arrangement on their performance of the song on Letterman.